Device for the separating and timed releasing of folding boxes



United States Patent [72] Inventor Thomas B. Brickson Santa Barbara,California [21] Appl. No. 771,441 [22] Filed Oct. 29, 1968 [45] PatentedDec. 1,1970 [73] Assignee Kliklok Corporation New York, New York acorporation of Delaware [54] DEVICE FOR THE SEPARATING AND TIMEDRELEASlNG OF FOLDING BOXES 3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 198/34 [51] Int. Cl 1. 865g 47/26 [501 Field of Search198/34 l '77 ill. iii; 5 Mia.

Assistant Examiner-,-Alfred N. Goodman Alt0rney Howard G. RussellABSTRACT: Boxes and similar-shaped articles arriving on a transporttrack in end-to-end contact propelled by a continuously operatingfriet'iontype transport device are positively separated from one anotherand released at timed intervals by a lateral flag stop which is firstprojected into the path of the boxes, thereby arresting the foremost boxby engagement with its front wall. The flag stop is then withdrawn torelease the box and is immediately reprojected to hit the box at itsside, causing it to pivot before the box has moved a distance equal tohalf of its length. The pivoted box is carried by the transport devicearound the projected flag stop which then arrests the next box,whereafter the procedure is repeated.

Patented Dec. 1, 1970 Sheet 1 of 6 w mww IN VILN'IUR. 7/20/7708 5.Erickson ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 1, 1970 Sheet Fig. 5

INVENTOR. Thomas 15. Erickson (L A TTOR/VEY DEVICE FOR THE SEPARATINGAND TIMED RELEASING OF FOLDING BOXES For the purpose of separating andreleasing, at timed intervals, folding boxes and the like arriving on atransport track and propelled by a continuously operating transportdevice, so-called flag stops are used which are projectable into andretractable from the path of the boxes. The flag stop arrests theforemost box by engagement with its front wall and then releases the boxby withdrawal of the stop in a known manner in order to permit the boxto be carried farther by the transport device.

Difficulties arise when the boxes arrive in a continuous row, endabutting end. In such a case it is theoretically necessary to reprojectthe flag stop at precisely the moment the released box has moved pastthe stop in order to move the stop into arresting position for the nextbox.

This is difficult to accomplish as the flag stop must practically bethrust,.like a knife, between the first and the second box which abutsthe trailing wall of the first box. If the timing is not very precise,one oftwo things is likely to occur.

If the flag stop is operated with considerable force it crushes the sideof the trailing portion of the first box or the side of the leadingportion of the second box.

If the flag stop is operated with a lesser force, it will not movebetween the two boxes to pry them apart with the result that the secondbox slips past the flag stop.

The present invention employs a flag stop, but in a different manner.The stop arrests the first box in the known fashion, then releases it,whereafter it is immediately reprojected so as to strike the box at itsside a short distance behind the leading wall. This causes the box topivot about a vertical axis, the box track being appropriately recessedto permit the trailing portion of the struck box to swing towards theside of which the flag stop is located. Pivoting of the box isfacilitated by a projecting element on the opposite track side, aboutmidway of the box, considering the moment the box is struck by theprojected flag stop.

The pivoted box is then carried around the projected flag stop, thetrack width being sufficient for this purpose at this point, and thenext box is positively arrested by the flag stop which reached itsprojected position considerably before the next box arrives at it, stilltraveling in a straight line.

A device for separating and releasing, in timed sequence, folding boxesandsimilarly shaped articles, the device comprising a track defined bylateral guide means, the track comprising an entrance portion and atiming portion, the entrance portion being of a certain width of theorder of the width of the boxes to keep arriving boxes in line, aperiodically projected flag stop, and transport means for moving boxesfrom the entrance portion through the timing portion by frictionalengagement with the box bottom is improved according to the presentinvention by the timing portion comprising, on one side at its entranceend, a lateral recess and on the same side at its exit end, the flagstop laterally movable into and out of the track, and comprising on theopposite side a projecting pivot element intermediate said entrance andexit ends, the flag stop being positioned at a distance from the recessof the order ofa box length and such that (a) the projected flag stopintercepts and arrests a box proceeding in a straight line from theentrance portion by engagement with the leading box wall and such that(b) after retraction and subsequent projection the flag stop impingesagainst the side surface of the box rearwardly of the front wall tocause the box to pivot about a vertical axis at said pivot element,thereby swinging the trailing box portion into said recess, the. widthof the passage between the projected flag stop and the opposite guidemeans of the timing portion being sufficient to permit the box to passtherebetween.

Suitably the track comprises an exit portion downstream of the flagelement, the exit portion being of progressively decreasing width andadapted substantially to realine boxes within the exit portion with theorientation of the boxes within Suitably the transport device is africtionally transporting conveyor belt extending through both theentrance and timing portion. By contrast, conventional flag stop typeseparators require two conveyors including a faster moving carryoutconveyor moving the boxes away at a rate faster than the arrival rate.

Advantageously a single conveyor belt may extend through the entrance,the timing and the exit portions of the track, resulting insimplification of the conveyor arrangement.

Boxes of different length may be handled on the same device by anadjustable arrangement of the recess by means of an element adjustabletoward, and away from, the flag stop, respectively.

Advantageously the flag stop is retracted in periods equal to theadvance of the transport means by more than one box length and less thantwo box lengths.

Suitably the flag stop after retraction is reprojected within a periodequal to the advance of the previously arrested box by less thanone-third of the box length.

The objects, features and advantages of this invention will appear morefully from the detailed description which follows accompanied bydrawings showing, for the purpose of illustration, a preferredembodiment of the invention. The invention also resides in certain newand original features of construction and combination of elementshereinafter set forth and claimed.

Although the characteristic features of this invention which arebelieved to be novel will be particularly pointed out in the claimsappended hereto, the invention itself, its objects and advantages, andthe manner in which it may be carried out may be better understood byreferring to the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings forming a part of the disclosure in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are perspective views, from above, of a deviceincorporating the present invention; and

FIGS. 3 to 6 are perspective views, similar to FIG. 2, of the device atsequential phases of its operation.

In the following description and in the claims various details will beidentified by specific names for convenience. The names, however, areintended to be generic in their application. Corresponding referencecharacters refer to corresponding parts in the several FIGS. ofthedrawings.

The drawings accompanying, and forming part of, this specificationdisclose certain specific details of construction for the purpose ofexplanation of broader aspects of the invention, but it should beunderstood that structural details may be modified in various respectswithout departure from the principles of the invention and that theinventionmay be incorporated in other structural forms than shown.

MECHANISM Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a track for folding boxes isdefined by the edges 11 and 12 of lateral guide plates 13, 14 and theedge 15 of an adjustable plate 16 whose terminal edge 17 represents therearward end of recess 18.

A single conveyor belt 19 extends at a horizontal level below the edgesl1, l2 and 15 and moves in the direction of the arrow 20.

Comparing FIGS. 1 and 2, it is seen that FIG. 1 represents a downstreamview, whereas FIG. 2 is an upstream view.

The spacing of the edges 12 and 15 with respect to edge 11 is slightlymore than the width W of a box B which is about to disappear from viewin FIG. 1.

The portion of the track extending from the right in FIG. 2 to the edge17 may be termed an entrance portion E. There follows a timing portion Textending from the recess 18 to its downstream end at a movable flagstop 21 movable in a slot 22 into and out of the path of boxes carriedby the conveyor.

The timing portion T is characterized, at one side, by the lateralrecess 18 at its entrance end and the flag stop 21 at the exit end.

On the opposite side a pivot element is provided, suitably a roller 23,at a location intermediate the edge 17 and the flag stop 21.

The length of the timing portion T may be varied, in accordance with thelength of boxes to be handled, by moving the edge 17 closer towards, orfarther away from, the flag stop. For this purpose the plate 16comprises elongated holes 24 through which clamping bolts 25 extend.

The periphery of the roller 23 is substantially in line with the edge 11of plate13 (FIG. 1), but the width of thetiming portion T of the trackis greater than the width of the entrance portion E by reason of a'receding edge portion 111 beyond which the roller 23 projects on oneside and the recess 18 on the opposite side. This permits boxes withinthe timing portion to pivot about a vertical axis, as will later beseen.

'The exit or discharge portion D begins at the flag stop and is borderedon the far side (FIG. 2) by the edge 26 of a plate 27, substantially inline with the edge 12, and on the near side by the edge 38 of a plate39. Edge 38 extends at an angle, in plan view, to edge 26 and serves tofunnel pivoted boxes into the discharge track D which, at a pointslightly beyond the limits of FIG. 2, is of substantially the same widthas, and alined with, the entrance portion E.

It will be noted that the position of the roller 23 is also adjustableas the pivot bolt 28 of the roller may be installed in any of aplurality of mounting holes 29 in the plate 13.

The width of the box track is adjustable by moving plate 13 closertoward, or farther away from, plate 14. For this purpose plate 13 isslotted as at 30 and clamped in place by bolts, one of which is shown at31.

Means are provided for moving the flag stop 21 into and out of the pathof boxes traveling through the timing portion. For this purpose a pivotarm 32 is provided operated by a cam mechanism (not shown) ofconventional construction in dependence on the motion of the belt 19.The drive mechanism comprises a shaft carrying the cam, one bearing ofthe shaft being visible at 33.

OPERATION Turning now to the operation of the device as illustrated inFIGS. 3 to 6, a series of filled open boxes are shown arriving from theright in FIG. 3. The advance of the boxes is barred by the projectedflag stop 21 arresting thc'boxes while conveyor 19 continues to move tothe left and slips relatively to the stationary boxes B and B.

The flag'stop 21 is then retracted permitting box B, to advance. Butimmediately after the passage of the leading wall of the box B, the flagstop is reprojected, thereby striking box 8, at its side. As the flagstop 21 is forward of the roller 23, the box B, pivots about a verticalaxis and its trailing end swings into the recess 18 (not visible in FIG.4, but compare FIG. 2).

The timing portion T is wide enough to permit the pivoted box tocontinue its downstream travel around the projected flag stop under itsfrictional engagement with the conveyor belt and under the force of thefollowing boxes 8,, 8,, which push it along.

Box 8, next strikes the edge 38 of plate 39 to realine the boxes withinthe exit track D with the boxes in the entrance track E. The trailingportion of box B, remains offset with respect to the front wall of box Bas box B, continues to be pushed toward the observer by the projectedflag stop (not visible in FIG. whereas box 8 remains oriented withrespect to the entrance track on the right.

As soon as the leading wall of box B strikes the flag stop, box B, andall the boxes behind come to a stop while box B, continues to advance atthe rate of the conveyor motion. FIG. 6 shows box B, spaced from box 8,which is arrested by the flag stop 21.

Shortly after the moment illustrated in FIG. 6, the flag stop 21 iswithdrawn and immediately reprojected, at which moment box B is in theposition of box B, in FIG. 4. This starts the next cycle.

It is readily seen that the arrest of the boxes is positive, without aneed for inserting a flag stop precisely between the trailing wall of aleading box and a leading wall of the followhe illustrated mechanism 18designed to handle relatively tall boxes and is provided for this reason(FIGS. 2 and 3) with lateral stabilizing rods 34, 35, an overhead rod36, and an overhead roller 37 beyond the end of the rod 36.

The timing of the flag stop motion is preferably so chosen that the flag21 is reprojected within the period of advance of the released box byless than one-third of the box length.

In order to time each and every box and to space the boxes from oneanother in the exit portion D, the flag element is retracted at periodsequal to the advance of the conveyor 19 by an amount more than one boxlength, but preferably by less than two box lengths.

As is seen from the FIGS. only one belt conveyor 19 is required forfeeding the boxes to the timing device and for carrying them away inspaced relationship. Conventional devices usually require two conveyors,a slower one to feed the boxes and a faster one to carry them away inspaced relationship.

Iclaim:

l. A device for separating, and releasing, in timed sequence, foldingboxes and similarly shaped articles, the device comprising a trackdefined by lateral guide means, said track comprising an entranceportion and a timing portion, the entrance portion being of a certainwidth of the order of the width of the boxes to keep arriving boxes inline, the timing portion comprising, on one side at its entrance end alateral recess and, on the same side at its exit end a flag elementlaterally movable into and out of the track, said timing portionextending from said recess to said flag element and comprising, on theopposite side, a projecting pivot element intermediate said recess andsaid flag element, the flag element being positioned at a distance fromthe recess of the order of a box length, and such that (a) the projectedflag element intercepts and arrests a box proceeding in a straight linefrom the entrance portion by engagement with the leading box wall, andsuch that (b) after retraction and subsequent projection the flagelement impinges against the side surface of the box rearwardly of thefront wall to cause the box to pivot about a vertical axis at said pivotelement to effect movement of the trailing box portion into said recess,the width of the passage between the projected flag element and theopposite guide means of the timing portion being sufficient to permitthe pivoted box to pass therebetween', transport means for moving boxesfrom said entrance portion through said timing portion and past saidflat element by frictional engagement with the box bottom; and powermeans operable in timed relationship to the transport means forperiodically retracting and reprojecting said flag element.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 in which said power means is so timedas to reproject said flag element after retraction before said transportmeans advances a distance equal to onethird of a box length.

3. A device as defined in claim 1 in which the timing portion of thetrack comprises an enlarged-width portion substantially opposite to, andin advance of, said flag element, and in which said pivot element is aroller projecting into said enlargedwidth portion sufficiently far thatthe roller periphery substantially contacts an imaginary straight linecontinuation of the guide means, on the roller side, of said entranceportion.

